10 Things Your Congressperson Won't Say

When members of the U.S. House of Representatives stand for reelection, for most it’s a formality: On average, more than 90 percent of House incumbents win, according to a 2005 report by the Cato Institute. What’s behind the incumbency advantage? Campaign financing, for one thing. We taxpayers pick up the tab for incumbents’ regular offices, staff, publicity, travel, and mailings, so they needn’t raise as much money to run. Challengers, on the other hand, must come up with a fortune— and do so in dribs and drabs, since Congress caps individual contributions at $2,000.

But the biggest factor is partisan gerrymandering. Since the Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that states must ensure that each congressman represents the same number of constituents, the process of redistricting after every census has been aggressively used by state party bosses to protect their incumbents. “Because of gerrymandering, almost 90 percent of Americans live in congressional districts where the outcome is so certain that their votes are irrelevant,” concludes the Cato report. And it’s bound to get worse: In June 2006 the Court ruled that states can redraw congressional districts as often as they please.